Detachable electronic payment device

ABSTRACT

Detachable payment devices capable of performing payment transactions associated with a mobile wallet of a mobile device are described. The payment device may be implemented in a variety of shapes and sizes such as, the shape of a typical payment card or a stylus/electronic pen. In order to communicate with the mobile device, the mobile wallet of the mobile device, and a POS terminal, the detachable payment device may use short range contactless transmissions. While in a docked mode, the payment device may receive payment card data from a mobile wallet of the mobile device. Additionally, while docked, the payment device may transmit payment card data to a POS terminal&#39;s receiver, thereby acting as an integrated mobile payment unit with the mobile device. When in an undocked mode, the payment device may complete contactless payment transactions without assistance from the mobile device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/118,719, which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The present disclosure relates generally to electronic payment devices,and more particularly to electronic devices that utilize mobile wallets.

BACKGROUND

Mobile wallets are increasingly replacing physical payment cards. Mobilewallets, applications, and related contactless transmission hardwareinstalled on mobile phones and tablets provide means for consumers tostore electronic equivalents of debit and credit cards and use them tomake point-of-sale (POS) contactless payments by holding the mobiledevice near a POS terminal.

Mobile wallets and mobile payments have many advantages over traditionalpayment cards. However, mobile phones and tablets are very personaldevices that lack the casual portability aspect of payment cards.Although, mobile wallets are easy to use at retail locations equippedwith consumer facing payment card accepting POS terminals, or where suchterminals are within arm's reach of the consumer, mobile phones andtablets, being very personal devices, are less suitable for being handedover to establishment employees in place of a payment card.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure generally provides payment devices that aredetachable from a mobile device and that are also configured to performpayment transactions associated with a mobile wallet of the mobiledevice. The detachable payment device may be implemented in the shape ofa typical payment card (i.e., rectangular) or a stylus/electronic pen,for example. In order to communicate with the mobile device, the mobilewallet of the mobile device, and a POS terminal, the detachable paymentdevice may use short range contactless transmissions such as, forexample, Bluetooth, near-field communications (NFC), or magnetic securetransmissions (MST).

The payment device may have a docked mode and an undocked, and acontactless transmission mode. For example, while in the docked mode,the payment device may receive payment card data from a mobile wallet ofthe mobile device to which it is docked. Additionally, while docked, thepayment device may transmit payment card data to a POS terminal'sreceiver, thereby acting as an integrated mobile payment unit with themobile device. When undocked/detached, the payment device may operateindependently from the mobile device and complete contactless paymenttransactions without the need of assistance from the mobile device. Yet,however, while detached, operations of the payment device may besupplemented by a wireless connection between the payment device and themobile device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of devices, systems, and methods are illustrated in thefigures of the accompanying drawings, which are meant to be exemplaryand non-limiting, in which like references are intended to refer to likeor corresponding parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for performing mobile wallet transactionsusing a detachable payment device according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2A is a front view of a mobile device including a detachablepayment device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2B is a rear view of the mobile device including the detachablepayment device of FIG. 2A according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A is a front view of the mobile device including a detachablepayment device according to another embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3B is the detachable payment device implementable in accordancewith FIG. 3A according to the present disclosure; and

FIG. 4 illustrates example components of the detachable payment deviceaccording to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of the present disclosure set forth hereinmakes reference to the accompanying drawings, which show variousembodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodimentsmay be realized and that logical and physical changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, thedetailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustrationonly and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of themethod or process descriptions may be executed in an order other than aspresented and are not limited to the order presented. Moreover,references to a singular embodiment may include plural embodiments, andreferences to more than one component may include a singular embodiment.

The present disclosure generally relates to payment devices, detachablefrom a mobile device, that are capable of performing paymenttransactions associated with a mobile wallet of the mobile device or amobile wallet stored in the detachable device. An example of use of amobile wallet application and a mobile wallet system is described inU.S. Pat. No. 9,022,285, entitled System and Method for SecurelyLoading, Storing and Transmitting Magnetic Stripe Data in a DeviceWorking with a Mobile Wallet System, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. The detachable payment device may be implementedin a variety of shapes and sizes such as, for example, the shape of atypical payment card (i.e., rectangular), a fob or a stylus/electronicpen. In order to communicate with the mobile device, the mobile walletof the mobile device, and a POS terminal, the detachable payment devicemay use short range contactless transmissions such as, for example,Bluetooth, near-field communications (NFC), or magnetic securetransmissions (MST).

While in a docked mode, the payment device may receive payment card datafrom a mobile wallet of the mobile device, and may transmit payment carddata to a POS terminal's receiver, thereby acting as an integratedmobile payment unit with the mobile device. When in an undocked mode,the payment device may complete contactless payment transactions withoutassistance from the mobile device.

A mobile wallet is a software module or hardware implemented within amobile device (e.g., a smart phone, smart watch, or tablet) that enablesa user of the mobile device to perform credit/debit payment transactionsusing digital forms of credit and credit/debit cards electronicallystored in the mobile wallet. A mobile wallet may be used to makein-store purchases, and electronic purchases through softwareapplications on a mobile device. A mobile wallet securely storesinformation relating to payment cards or tokens, containing informationsuch as card number, expiration date, name on the card, type of card,issuer of card, card verification value (CVV) number, or some othercryptographic authentication element, etc. An example of use of a mobilewallet application and securing information relating to payment cards ortokens in a mobile wallet system is described in U.S. Patent PublicationUS 2015/0363771, entitled Mobile Checkout Systems and Methods, which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

To perform a typical mobile wallet transaction, the mobile device ispositioned within a threshold distance of a POS device, with thethreshold distance being measured by the short range wirelesstransmission capabilities of the mobile device and/or the POS device. Inaddition, some mobile wallet transactions require a user verify they arethe owner of the transacted card by supplying a fingerprint or someother personal identifying information to the mobile device.

Since mobile wallet transactions utilize short range wirelesstransmissions to communicate data, the mobile device, in manytransactions, must be handed to a business establishment's employee whenthe POS device is inaccessible to the mobile device's user. This isunsatisfactory at least because mobile devices are highly personal, andpeople typically do not like handing highly personal items to strangers.It is against this backdrop that the present disclosure providesdetachable payment devices that can be used to perform mobile wallettransactions, thereby eliminating the need to hand over to businessemployees the mobile payment device. Rather, only the detachable paymentdevice is handed over.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for performing mobile wallettransactions using a detachable payment device according to the presentdisclosure. The system 100 includes a mobile device 102, a detachablepayment device 104, and a point-of-sale (POS) device 106. Examples ofthe payment device 104 are presented herein below as 104 a and 104 b inFIGS. 2A-2B and FIGS. 3A-3B, respectively

The mobile device 102 includes a mobile wallet 108. The mobile wallet108, which may be implemented in the mobile device 102 as hardware orsoftware, stores payment card data usable in contactless paymenttransactions. The mobile device 102 may be a smart phone, smart watch,tablet, or like mobile device capable of including and operating amobile wallet.

The payment device 104 detachably couples to the mobile device 102 asdescribed herein below. The payment device 104 may communicate with themobile device 102 via physical means such as a set of physical contacts.For example, when docked to the mobile device 102, the payment device104 may draw power from the mobile device 102 via physical, electricalcontacts, thereby replenishing an internal power source of the paymentdevice 104. The payment device 104 may also communicate with the mobiledevice 102 via Bluetooth or other like wirelesscommunications/connections. For example, when docked to the mobiledevice 102, the payment device 104 may receive payment card data fromthe mobile wallet 108 of the mobile device 102.

The detachable payment device 104 includes contactless paymenttransmission hardware or software, which is used to transmit paymentcard data associated with the mobile wallet 108 to the POSterminal/device 106. Contactless transmissions usable by the paymentdevice 104 to communicate with the POS device 106 include, for example,near-field communication (NFC), magnetic secure transmission (MST), orlike short range contactless transmissions that the POS device 106 isable to recognize and receive.

The detachable payment device 104 may have a docked mode and a detachedmode, with each mode enabling distinct processes/functions performableby the payment device 104. For example, the docked mode may enable thepayment device 104 to receive power from the mobile device 102, therebyreplenishing an internal power source/battery of the payment device 104.The power communicated to the payment device 104 may be transmitted viaphysical contacts that electrically connect the payment device 104 tothe mobile device 102, or receive battery charging power from the mobiledevice it is docked to. Moreover, the docked mode may enable the paymentdevice 104 to operate as an integrated mobile payment unit with themobile device 102. That is, when the payment device 104 is docked,payment card data of the mobile wallet 108 may be transmitted, via shortrange contactless transmissions, to the POS device 106 by both thepayment device 104 and the mobile device 102.

The detached mode may enable the payment device 104 to operateindependently from the mobile device 102 (i.e., the payment device 104may complete a contactless payment transaction with the POS device 106without assistance from the mobile device 102). However, it should beappreciated that the detached mode does not need to limit the paymentdevice 104 as such. For example, while the detached mode is enabled, thepayment device 104 may complete/perform transactions while beingsupplemented by the mobile device 102 through, e.g., Bluetooth or otherlike wireless communications/connections.

The mobile device can be used in two distinct modes. In one mode, thewallet resides on the mobile device and the detachable device is only anextension of that wallet. All major functions, such card storage,provisioning (including most security) are performed in the mobiledevice. In another mode, the mobile wallet resides in the detachabledevice and the mobile device (and the wallet application running on it,are used to control and manage the detachable device and to provideconnectivity to wide area networks (phone network, WiFI, etc.) and theInternet.

The detachable payment device 104 may be configured to transmit paymentcard data to the POS device 106 automatically (e.g., transmit paymentcard data once the payment device 104 is located within a certainproximity of the POS device 106). The proximity may be dictated by thewireless transmission and reception capabilities of the payment device104 and/or POS device 106. the detachable payment device 104 may beconfigured to transmit payment card data upon a trigger event occurring.For example, payment card data may be transmitted after or when a userinteracts with a button on the payment device 104. In another example,payment card data may be transmitted after or when a user interacts witha fingerprint scanner on the payment device 104. In a further example,payment card data may be transmitted in response to a remote command(e.g., interaction with a button or fingerprint scanner) originatingfrom the mobile device 102. The triggering event used to activatetransmission of payment card data from the payment device 104 may dependon implementation. For example, more than one triggering event may beused in situations where more security/encryption of payment card datais desired.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate the mobile device 102 with a payment cardshaped, i.e. rectangular, detachable payment device 104 a according tothe present disclosure. The mobile device 102 includes a housing 204,which may contain a recess (not illustrated) into which the paymentdevice 104 a may be docked. Alternatively, the payment device 104 a maydock to the mobile device 102 at a non-recessed part of the housing 204using for example, magnetic, physical, and other like attachment means.

The payment device 104 a may dock on the mobile device 102 anywhere thatenables the payment device 104 a to receive charge and payment card dataas described herein. For example, the payment device 104 a may dock to atop, middle, or bottom portion of the mobile device 102. Moreover, thepayment device 104 a may dock to or near a side edge, middle of (i.e.,away from an edge of the mobile device 102), or top or bottom edge ofthe mobile device 102. Additionally, while it is illustrated that thepayment device 104 a may dock to a back/rear side of the mobile device102, one skilled in the art should appreciate that the payment device104 a may dock to a front side or an edge of the mobile device 102without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the mobile device 102 with a stylus shapeddetachable payment device 104 b according to the present disclosure. Thepayment device 104 b may merely take the form of a stylus without beingconfigured to perform traditional stylus functions. Alternatively, thepayment device 104 b may take the form of a stylus, perform traditionalstylus functions, and perform payment functions as described herein.

Like the payment device 104 a, the payment device 104 b is configured todetachably dock to the mobile device 102. The payment device 104 b maydock within a recess of the mobile device 102. Alternatively, thepayment device 104 b may dock to the mobile device 102 in a non-recessedpart of the housing 204 using magnetic or other like attachment means.The payment device 104 b may dock on the mobile device 102 anywhere thatenables the payment device 104 b to receive charge and payment card dataas described herein. For example, the payment device 104 b may dock to atop, middle, or bottom portion of the mobile device 102. Moreover, thepayment device 104 b may dock to or near a side edge, middle of (i.e.,away from an edge of the mobile device 102), or top or bottom edge ofthe mobile device 102. Additionally, while it is illustrated that thepayment device 104 b may dock to a back/rear side of the mobile device102, one skilled in the art should appreciate that the payment device104 b may dock to a front side or an edge of the mobile device 102without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

While the detachable payment device 104 (also 104 a and 104 b) has beendescribed as attachable to the mobile device 102, it should beappreciated that the payment device 104 may be a stand-alone device(i.e., not physically attachable to the mobile device 102). When thepayment device 104 is a stand-alone device, it may have its ownindependent power source. Moreover, when stand-alone, the payment device104 may maintain communications with the mobile wallet 108 via Bluetoothor other wireless communications/connections.

Additionally, the detachable payment device 104 (also 104 a and 104 b)may be configured to communicate with the mobile device 102 and themobile wallet 108 via wired communication/connections. In suchimplementations, the wired communication/connections may be permanentlycoupled to the mobile device 102 and/or the payment device 104. Inaddition or alternatively, the wired communication/connection means maybe removably coupled to the mobile device 102 and/or the payment device104.

The detachable payment device 104 may be equipped to provide usage andlocation reporting and commands to and from the mobile device 102 andthe mobile wallet 108 through Bluetooth, other like wirelesscommunications, or wired communications. For example, usage reportingmay result when and provide an indication that a waiter just pushed thePAY button. Location reporting may include data such as continent oftransaction, state of transaction, county of transaction, city oftransaction, establishment of transaction, and the like information thatmay be available as a function of GPS capabilities available to themobile device. Commands to and from the mobile device may include whichcard was activated, if NFC is effected, the transaction amount, etc.Such commands and reports may include usage reports, location alerts,and alarms.

The detachable payment device 104 (also 104 a and 104 b) may contain itsown memory and cryptographic processor device(s) and store payment cardinformation and use such payment card information to make contactlesspayments independently of the mobile device 102 and mobile wallet 108,for example, when outside the range of their Bluetooth or other wirelesscommunications means, or when the mobile device 102 is switched off oris inoperative. The payment card information or credentials stored andtransmitted by the payment device 104 may consist of static card data,such as card data stored on the magnetic stripe of a magnetic stripecard or chip card. The payment card information or credentials may alsoconsist of static card data with a dynamic element, such as a dynamicCVV. Additionally, the payment card information or credentials may befully or partially tokenized card data, with or without a dynamiccryptogram. Such credentials can be either pre-loaded into the mobiledevice 102 via the mobile wallet 108, or can be locally generated basedon keys and other data loaded via the mobile wallet 108.

Moreover, the detachable payment device 104 (also 104 a and 104 b) maycontain a set of communications contacts, such as a USB connector, andmay be used to deliver payment card data or tokens to a consumer device,such as a laptop computer or tablet, to enable secure e-commercepayments.

The detachable payment device 104 (also 104 a and 104 b) may also beused as a secure storage of payment cards, credentials, tokens, andkeys, which the payment device 104 makes available to the mobile wallet108 of the mobile device 102 on demand. For example, the detachabledevice—which contains the wallet and the keys—could be used to generatetokenized card data for Internet commerce, where the card data would begiven to the user via the display of the mobile device.

FIG. 4 illustrates example components of the payment device 104 (whichalso represents payment devices 104 a and 104 b). In operation, thepayment device 104 may include computer-readable and computer-executableinstructions that reside on the payment device 104, as will be discussedfurther below.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the payment device 104 includes input/output(I/O) device interfaces 402, which provide the payment device 104 withconnectivity and protocol support. For example, a POS terminal antenna404 may be used to provide connectivity between the payment device 104and the POS terminal/device 106. The same antenna 404 or a separatemobile device antenna 406 may be used to provide connectivity betweenthe payment device 104 and the mobile device 102. Additionally, physicalcontacts 408 may be used to provide physical connectivity between thepayment device 104 and the mobile device 102. The contacts 408 may beconfigured to couple directly to electrical contacts of the mobiledevice 102, or may be configured to indirectly couple to the mobiledevice 102 via an external peripheral device connection such asuniversal serial bus (USB), FireWire, Thunderbolt, or other wiredconnection protocol.

As described, a variety of protocols may be supported by the I/O deviceinterfaces 402 for the antennae 404, 406. For example, the antennae 404,406 may emit and receive Bluetooth, WiFi Direct, or NFC transmissions.In the alternative, instead of using a radio frequency (RF), theantennae 404, 406 may be based on other technology, such as ultrasoniccommunication or infrared communication.

The payment device 104 may include an address/data bus 410 for conveyingdata among components of the payment device 104. Each component withinthe payment device 104 may also be directly connected to othercomponents in addition to (or instead of) being connected to othercomponents across the bus 410.

The payment device 104 may include a contactless payment transmissionprocessor 412, which may include a central processing unit (CPU) forprocessing data and computer-readable instructions that enable thepayment device 104 to perform mobile wallet transactions as describedherein. The payment device 104 may also include a memory 414 for storingdata (e.g., payment card data) and instructions. The memory 414 mayinclude volatile random access memory (RAM), non-volatile read onlymemory (ROM), non-volatile magnetoresistive (MRAM) and/or other types ofmemory. The payment device 104 may also include a data storage component416, for storing data (e.g., payment card data) andcontroller/processor-executable instructions (e.g., instructions toperform the processes performed by the payment device 104 as describedherein). The data storage component 416 may include one or morenon-volatile storage types such as magnetic storage, optical storage,solid-state storage, etc.

The detachable payment device 104 further includes a power source 418.The power source 418 may be a lithium ion battery or other like batterycapable of being recharged.

In operation, communications are transmitted between the mobile device102, detachable payment device 104, and POS device 106 when performingmobile wallet transactions. The mobile device 102 may send a command tothe detachable payment device 104 instructing it to transmit aparticular card data sequence. The command may include just the card ID(when the wallet resides in the detachable device) or it may include theentire card sequence, including authentication parameters.Communications between the mobile device 102 and the detachable paymentdevice 104 are encrypted. Additionally, the detachable payment device104 is cryptographically bound to the mobile device 102 and the walletaccount residing on the mobile device, as well as to its correspondingaccount. Other communications may include card provisioning, cardremoval and card specific key updates.

Various applications of the disclosed techniques provide substantialimprovements to the functioning of computing apparatuses that implementmobile wallets and the technical environments in which the variousapplications are implemented. Moreover, although the present disclosurehas been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings,it is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited tothose precise teachings, and that various other changes andmodifications may be made by one skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A payment device, comprising: a memory storingpayment card data associated with a mobile wallet of a mobile device;and a contactless payment transmission processor that includes a dockedmode and a detached mode, the docked mode being enabled when the paymentdevice is physically coupled to the mobile device and configured toreceive payment card data from the mobile wallet, the detached modebeing enabled when the payment device is physically detached from themobile device and configured to wirelessly communicate payment card datato a point-of-sale (POS) device to perform a transaction.
 2. The paymentdevice of claim 1, further comprising a power source that receives acharge from the mobile device when the payment device is physicallycoupled to the mobile device.
 3. The payment device of claim 1, whereinthe docked mode if further configured to wirelessly communicate paymentcard data to the POS device.
 4. The payment device of claim 1, whereinthe payment card data includes at least one of static card data, staticcard data having a dynamic element, at least partially tokenized data,or at least partially tokenized data having a dynamic cryptogram.
 5. Thepayment device of claim 1, wherein the contactless payment transmissionprocessor communicates payment card data to the POS device after atrigger event occurs.
 6. A system, comprising: a mobile device includinga mobile wallet, the mobile wallet including payment card data; adetachable payment device removably attachable to the mobile device, thedetachable payment device receiving payment card data from the mobilewallet when the payment device is coupled to the mobile device, thepayment device wirelessly communicating payment card data to apoint-of-sale (POS) device to perform a transaction when the paymentdevice is uncoupled from the mobile device.
 7. The system of claim 6,wherein the detachable payment device wirelessly receives the paymentcard data from the mobile wallet.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein thedetachable payment device communicates payment card data to the POSdevice using short range contactless transmissions.
 9. The system ofclaim 6, wherein both the detachable payment device and the mobiledevice communicate payment card data of the mobile wallet to the POSdevice when the detachable payment device is coupled to the mobiledevice.
 10. The system of claim 6, further comprising a power source forthe detachable payment device, that receives a charge from a wired orwireless power source.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein the detachablepayment device communicates payment card data to the POS deviceautomatically when the payment device is within a threshold proximity ofthe POS device.
 12. The system of claim 6, wherein the detachablepayment device communicates payment card data to the POS device upon atrigger event occurring.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the triggerevent is at least one of a button of the detachable payment device beinginteracted with, a fingerprint scanner of the detachable payment devicebeing interacted with, or a remote command originating from the mobiledevice.
 14. The system of claim 6, wherein the detachable payment deviceis in the shape of an electronic pen, and wherein the detachable paymentdevice performs electronic pen functions.
 15. The system of claim 6wherein the payment card data includes at least one fully tokenized carddata having a dynamic cryptogram.